The book includes 50 essays on the most significant inventions in the field of military technology. Moving from the javelins of the ancient world, Roman gladiuses and Viking longships to World War I biplanes, submarines and ballistic missiles, the author examines the history of human civilization through the prism of the emergence of new types of deadly weapons. The reader is presented with the entire centuries-old history of world wars - through the battles of Thermopylae and Midway, Gettysburg and Kursk. The book is addressed to a wide range of readers interested in military history.